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The Washington Post October 17, 2001, Wednesday, Final Edition SECTION: FINANCIAL; Pg. E12 LENGTH: 506 words HEADLINE: EU Probe Finds No Terrorist Link to Suspect Stock Sales BYLINE: William Drozdiak, Washington Post Foreign Service DATELINE: BRUSSELS, Oct. 16 BODY: European Union finance ministers said today that they are still investigating "unusual transactions" in stock trading across Europe before the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States but there is still no evidence linking the trades to the perpetrators. The EU ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, heard a report from a committee of European regulators who said that at times before the attacks, trading volumes and price movements in sensitive sectors ~ such as airlines, insurance, luxury goods and tourism -- greatly exceeded normal levels. But the regulators said they could not find convincing signs of "terrorist-related activity" in the markets. EU officials said investigators were focusing on trades involving American and United airlines as well as Munich and Swiss reinsurance companies, which have large exposure to losses in the World Trade Towers. Since the hijacked airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last month, stock market regulators around the world have been investigating whether people with prior knowledge of the attacks tried to capitalize on the carnage by dumping shares in companies whose stock might be hurt by resulting drops in business. On Sept. 22, for example, Ernst Welteke, president of Germany's central bank, said an early review "makes us sure that people connected to the terrorists must have been trying to profit from this tragedy." He disclosed no details. EU officials said they are working closely with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Stephen Cutler, the SEC's acting director of enforcement, has called the inquiry "a matter of the highest priority."

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9/24/03

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The Washington Post September 23, 2001, Sunday, Final Edition SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A25 LENGTH: 949 words HEADLINE: Germans Probe Likely Links Between Profits and Terrorists BYLINE: William Drozdiak, Washington Post Foreign Service DATELINE: BRUSSELS, Sept. 22 BODY: The president of Germany's central bank said today there was mounting evidence that people connected to the attacks in New York and Washington sought to profit from the tragedy by engaging in "terrorism insider trading" on European stock and commodity markets. Ernst Welteke, head of the Bundesbank, said a preliminary review by German regulators and bank researchers showed there were highly suspicious sales of shares in airlines and insurance companies, along with major trades in gold and oil markets, before Sept. 11 that suggest they were conducted with advance knowledge of the attacks. Welteke said his researchers came across what he considers almost irrefutable proof of insider trading as recently as Thursday, but he refused to release details pending further consultations with regulators in other countries. "What we found makes us sure that people connected to the terrorists must have been trying to profit from this tragedy," he said at a meeting of European finance ministers and central bankers. Besides massive short selling of airlines and insurance stocks, Welteke said "there was a fundamentally inexplicable rise" in world oil prices just before the attacks that suggest certain groups or people were buying oil contracts that were then sold for a much higher price. He said German researchers also detected movements in gold markets "which need explaining." "If you look at the movements in markets before and after the attacks, it really makes your brow furrow," Welteke said. "It is extremely difficult to really verify it, but we are confident we will be able to pinpoint the source in at least one or two cases." The comments by the central bank chief of Europe's biggest economy were the first public confirmation